Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Minimal Comics Volume One

Today I was excited to receive a package from Japan in the mail. It was very pleasing to see, tied with twine, with its beautiful Japanese stamps, the SMALL PACKET sticker. And I was excited to know it was something for review.

I was a little worried about doing this review. I had a problem with some abstract comix a few months ago. Would this be the same?

Graeme McNee sent a cute note along with the book Minimal Comics Volume One. It has a smiling cloud and a hill with the very clear handwriting.

It's all so beautiful I almost didn't want to touch it. Is there such a thing as too beautiful?

I slipped the book out of its protective plastic sleeve and began to read. Each comic is a page long, just three panels. Each comic has a short title at the beginning. The short titles are simple.

The drawings are simple too. The ideas are simple yet funny. Some show an object as it progresses through time, and some are more complicated.

One that stands out to me is called ray gun. The first panel shows a ray gun. The second panel shows the ray gun shooting a ray through the frame. The third panel shows the ray gun just like the first panel, only there's a hole burned through the frame where the ray went. It's subtle and funny and fun.

These comics are very cute. But they are not naive or simpleminded. They are charming.

My favorite one is called mt fuji. I actually said, "Aw!" out loud. I had never seen such a cute mountain in my life.

McNee has included some postcards and a DIY comic for the reader to complete and submit for future publication.